
One Nation, Under Ian

Rummaging through my old high school CDs is both a chore and a mini adventure. Several years ago I’d gotten rid of 90% of my (near 1000) compact discs and paralleled my record collecting with digital hording. So after copying the CDs, out they went… save for a select few (100 or so… ok, maybe 200). Flood was my first introduction to the mighty Giants, and is as good now as it was back in 1994, which I imagine was as good as it was in 1990 upon its initial release. I’m not really going anywhere with this save to say that this album will spin in some form today… be it record, compact disc, or by 160gb hard disc.
Play it Again Sam Records, now [PIAS] Recordings, the Belgian-based experimental / alt-rock label released Dog Star Man, a 12″ single from England’s Meat Beat Manifesto. It was the distribution by Wax Trax! Records that caught my eye (along with the industrial-friendly cover art), and although she’s a quick 4-track 12″, she does wet the electro-industrial-experimental whistle and leave the adventurous listener wanting much, much more. 1990 was a great year for industrial music… arguably the genre’s most prolific.
It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for Fugazi (really, any day is a good day for Fugazi, let’s be honest). Once a topic of disdain and much, much anger is now the comfort of a warm and snug blanket or sweater… meaning it’s been wholly embraced and absorbed, because at one time in my life, I was an idiot. Repeater, the band’s first full length, was released many a moon ago, in April of 1990. I was ten. Carry on.
When it comes to groundbreaking albums, no format is considered too outlandish to the avid collector. Take for example, Ministry’s 1990 live album, In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up (Live). I own it on compact disc, twice on vinyl (US pressings), and cassette (featured here, obviously). This is one of the few dubbed tapes I had kicking around the truck back in high school (I believe Operation Ivy’s Energy was the b-side), so when I ran across this genuine, slightly grubby tape at a thrift store a few years back, I couldn’t help but part with my hard earned $2.
I was elated when I finally found my copy of Lead into Gold’s only full length, 1990’s Age of Reason. Like a child on Christmas unwrapping musical bliss, or something like that. I scored a sealed copy for super cheap online some, wow, 10+ years back. There is a bridge… there is water… and there has been a lot of that water… anyway, one needs to be in a very specific, sharp-minded and angry mood to fully enjoy this industrial masterwork. Today, I was that one. Enjoy with caution.
In 1990, Jane’s Addiction released their 2nd studio album, Ritual De Lo Habitual. Three Days, Been Caught Stealing, and Classic Girl all debuted with this legendary album which was, for over a decade, their last. She, and her older sister, 1988’s Nothing Shocking each got heavy play throughout my high school years, and with everything ingested during those impressionable years, received its proper graduation to “ownership on vinyl.”